How to Buy a Classic or Wooden Boat – Tips and Advice

Buying a classic boat or wooden yacht is cheaper than most people imagine.

A little wooden boat with two snug berths, a tiny galley and oil lamps can be had for under £5,000. The slow creak of a warp stretching against its mooring; ripples against a wooden hull and the cry of a curlew; the smell of the town, its lights shimmering silently on the dark horizon, two miles and half a lifetime away. In front of you is a rectangle of yellowish light, and below, the cabin, warm and wooden and smelling of rope, varnish and coffee brewing; the soporific tones of the shipping forecast drift up into the cockpit – it’ll be another perfect day tomorrow.

It’s not always like this of course. But moments like these are made all the more powerful by being on a hand-built, antique wooden boat. You’d have left the world of timetables, mobile phone reception and stress behind just as effectively on a mass-produced plastic boat. But on an old wooden boat, you’ve gone one further: you’ve also left the era we live in.

Sailing develops certain qualities in people: most notably tolerance, decisiveness and coolness under pressure. This ‘soul-training’ is just one of the reasons so many sailing schemes are awarded money to rejuvenate and repair the lives and hopes of troubled young people today.

For most of us though, it’s a happy by-product of the real reasons we started: privileged access to beautiful coastline; unity with the elements; splendid solitude – or to be with a loved one or the family or friends – in a setting shared by no one else. One famous sailor, Albert Einstein, used to say that sailing for him was a way of getting away from the things that would otherwise gnaw endlessly at his mind; sailing gave him “absurd happiness”. That goes for all of us.

To buy a classic boat of your own, view the many .

1. What is a Classic Boat?

No one would argue with the classic status of this Itchen Ferry type Yacht, built in 1898

Everyone knows a classic car when they see one. A classic boat is the floating equivalent – typically an old wooden sailing yacht maintained by a loving owner. If it’s a working boat, or of a working boat type, then the term is usually ‘traditional’ rather than ‘classic’. Classics aren’t always wood – and just to confuse things they aren’t always old!

As the movement to restore old wooden boats that began some time back in the 1970s has reached critical mass in the last decade or so, many new boats are being built in the traditional style, sometimes with modern accoutrements, and sometimes in glassfibre, to the jeers of some traditionalists.

The argument over a definition runs and runs (it can be something of a sophist’s playground in honesty) but it’s not something that need concern us: we all know one when we see one, so it’s a subjective label. We offered our take on the discussion in our 200th issue, in February 2005. The editor talked about looking back – “albeit with a mirror held in the light of today”, and in a world that mocks the old fashions yet slavishly follows the new, looking back is one way of looking forward: for one thing, restored wooden boats are essentially recycled. We also published the response to a question that we’d set our readers: what is your all-time classic of classics? The results showed an amazing range in size (from 10ft to 300ft (3-90m), value (£500 to tens of millions), purpose (canoes, sailing yachts, steamers, fishing craft and military vessels) and design.

2. Why buy a Classic Boat?

Yachts like these 25ft Clinker Stellas can be had for as little as £5,000

The photos that accompany this guide should be answer enough! Most modern yachts are characterless at best – or ugly at worst, and made from eco-unfriendly materials. Not only that, but they are expensive.

Classic boats must be among the most undervalued objects in the world. A 30ft (9m) wooden yacht in great condition, built of exotic hardwoods like teak and mahogany, by the hand of a master craftsman, might be bought for £20,000 – or less. A bottom-of-the-range modern, white plastic equivalent will start at a lot more than that, even before the optional extras which are usually essential.

Buying a classic wooden boat is sailing in the wake of history; history of the vessel, its owners over the years, of craftsmanship and the sea. And people will gaze at your boat with envy; you’re guaranteed a warm reception in every port. There is a perception, based on some truth, that wooden boats are a headache to keep but things are changing.

Today, classic boats are owned by ‘glitterati’ like Bob Dylan and Princess Anne, and while we may share their discerning taste, for most of us value for money is also part of the appeal. Sailing a classic yacht is truly a recreation that appeals at every level, a virtue often claimed but rarely true.

3. Getting started buying a Classic Boat

This North Quay 19, built in Kent in wood to a traditional design, is a new classic and a perfect first boat, offering enough comfort for a proper day out at sea and even two bunks under a fold-up canopy for a night under the stars

There are many ways to . You could commission one to order from a designer and builder (top of the scale, but not as expensive as might be imagined); buy a new yacht built in the traditional style off the peg, or secondhand in good condition or – and this is true nirvana for the dyed-in-the-wood traditionalist – rescue one from some backwater and restore it to original condition. Alternatively, you could build one from scratch: wooden boats can be bought as designs, pre-cut kits, or bare hulls to be fitted out. This is becoming increasingly popular, with firms like Chesapeake Light Craft in America, Selway Fisher and Fyne Boat Kits in Britain and Scruffie Marine in Australia (not name but a few) beginning to sell kits in high numbers. Most of these kits are in plywood and range from sea kayaks to cruising yachts.

You can buy individually or as part of a syndicate. In our office alone, we have a representative spread of boats and ownership schemes: three of us own pre-war wooden sailing yachts ranging from 25 to 32ft (7-10m); one of us shares a pre-war 30-footer with four other people; another staffer charters yachts when and where she wants one; another has a 12ft (3.7m) wooden dinghy bought for £500 off the ex-captain of the Cutty Sark! And one of us set up a trust to own – and make available for sailing – one of Arthur Ransome’s yachts: the 28ft (8.5m) Nancy Blackett.

4. How to pick your first classic boat?

Little cabin yachts like this 23ft Deben 4-tonner were built in great numbers in the 1930s and following the war. Today they are stunning to the eye and still good yachts.

Classics start with small, open, wooden dinghies and rowing boats, Swallows and Amazons style, that can be picked up for as little as £500, to custom-built three-masted schooners of 200ft (60m), that will set you back upwards of £40 million (and the rest!).

A sailing dinghy, a river cruiser, small motorboat or a small cruising yacht up to 25ft (7.6m) in length would all make an ideal first boat, so we’ve concentrated on these. Many sailors (Dinghy Cruising Association members for example) never move up from a simple open boat, even if they can afford to, preferring the solitude and hassle-free nature of this type of sailing, sniffing around hidden bays and perhaps spending a night or two aboard with a cloth draped over the boom to form a makeshift tent. Sailing too, can be very immediate, this close to the water – although some frown upon trailing your hand in it!

Other sailors might trade up to take the family afloat, or to tackle distant waters: the Baltic, those featured in The Riddle of the Sands, or crossing the Atlantic to the Caribbean, surfing down the blue swells of a trade wind with dolphins and flying fish. Whatever you cross – the Atlantic, the Channel or the harbour – it’s an adventure. The Folkboat (p32) is a small boat that could cross all three! Be practical about where you want to sail and give this some thought before you pick your boat.

Key questions when buying a boat

Ask yourself what you want from your classic boat:

Day Sailing or River Cruising?

River or Sea?

Sail or Power

The epitome of the grand age of wooden 'runaround' and Italian style, a Rive would be a good bet for a powerboat. One recently sold for a million dollars, but they can be had for a lot less. First boat? Why Not?

These are perhaps the greatest questions of them all. River sailing is a dying sport in Britain, but owning, or just using, a little classic wooden dinghy at a club is a very affordable way to be on the water.

For most people these days, estuary or coastal sailing holds the greatest appeal. Long weekends away from the city, with the hiss of a paraffin lamp and the smell of frying bacon at anchor somewhere in a deserted creek is the stuff of dreams for many, so well documented by the late Maurice Griffiths, ex-yachting journalist who described famously the lonely beauty of 1950s sailing on Britain’s Thames Estuary and magical ‘swatchways’.

Many sailors of course, go much further afield: in fact sailing around the world is not uncommon these days and is usually the reward of retirement. Going boating under power is a rather different pursuit; not for the motorboater the gentle sounds of bird cry and water chuckling under the keel. You don’t see nature in the same way, rushing through it at 30 knots; you don’t smell or hear your surroundings with a noisy, smelly diesel. But motorboating has its own high-speed thrill, and ease of use, and breadth of available cruising grounds are greater than with a sailing yacht.

Sociable or Solitary?

The Yarmouth Old Gaffers Annual Regatta on The Isle of Wight, known simply as 'Yogaff'

For many sailors, hiding away where the mackerel swim and the seagulls cry is the big attraction. However, sailing is also a very sociable sport, and at least in part, classic sailing is driven by the huge proliferation of regattas and other events set up for classic boats in Britain and all over the world. From Riva meetings on Lake Geneva, to the glamorous big-yacht racing circuit in the Mediterranean sponsored by watchmaker Panerai, to a weekend organised by the local yacht club or by the 50-year-old Old Gaffers Association, every weekend in summer, the coast is splashed with mirror-like varnish, glinting bronze and cream, white and tan sails. Racing at most of these events is more social than serious, and parties in the evenings often last late into the night. The social mix at many of these events has to be seen to be believed: builders, aristocrats and company owners mix happily, drawn together by one common interest.

5: How much does a wooden boat cost?

AXE ONE DESIGNA 12ft clinker dinghy kept at a sailing club,
£1,000 – £5,000 capital expenditure and £200 a year

A boat like this pretty 12ft Axe One-Design would take two adults and perhaps a child sailing along the coast on a summer’s day or nosing up the empty upper reaches of a river. In fact, even in the dinghy range, you can have almost endless adventure: the Dinghy Cruising Association are out there proving it all the time on their cruises; the late Frank Dye crossed oceans on his Wayfarer; and there are a number of dinghies that can be made into comfortable overnighters with the addition of a self-inflating mattress, decent sleeping bag and some sort of ‘tent-slung-over-the-boom’ arrangement. And you can get such a dinghy for less than £1,000 too. A Mirror can be had for half that – or sometimes for free if you’re willing to patch it up a bit. And just read The Unlikely Voyage of Jack de Crow (read it anyway – it’s great) to see how far you can go in an 11ft, pram-bowed dinghy – all the way from England to the Black Sea, just in case you don’t read it. Needless to say, at the other end of the range, you can spend more than £5,000, and you can also spend less (keeping it at home) on the running costs – or (you’ve guessed it) a lot more.

DAY BOATA15ft daysailer kept on a trailer at home, £1,000 – £10,000 capital expenditure and £200 a year

A 15ft daysailer kept on a trailer at home, £1,000-£10,000 capital expenditure and £200 a year

A family, or four adults or more could spend the day sailing in a boat like this (Swallow Boats Storm 15, £7,000 built or £2,600 as a kit), and return home under power if the wind drops. I once took a Storm 15 around London, camp sailing for ten days. Most day boats are a little larger than this – between 15 and 20ft. Typically they will offer room for a family, their kit, an outboard engine, a canopy, possibly that you can sleep under on the side-benches and some stability in the form of a keel or weighted centreplate. Some will have tiny ‘cuddy’ cabins, either for sleeping in or for gear storage. These are handy!

WEEKEND YACHT£2,000-£30,000 capital expenditure and £500+ a year

The 19ft memory is newly built to an old style in GRP. They come as open boats or cabin boats as seen here. Their Big Gaff rigs ensure they clean up at races - but they'll take you cruising too, with overnight stops of 'camping plus' comfort.

A 19-22-footer or similar, in tip top condition, on a swinging mooring. Insurance, bits and bobs, a treat for the boat at Christmas… this won’t break the bank, but we are now in the realm of real yachts. Some in this range will have the hallmarks of such: inboard engines and fixed keels of iron or lead. You might think of those as ‘little big’uns’ – miniature yachts. Others might rely on an outboard on a bracket for power and be built in ply, and be very light for trailing by road and exhilarating performance, with a lifting keel of some sort. You might think of these as ‘big little’uns’ or ‘dinghies with lids”. Here, more than in most size categories, there is massive variation. The little big’uns can sometimes cross oceans and but will be slow and sturdy in terms of sailing performace. The lighter boats will fly, but cruising ground and conditions will be more restricted.

CRUISING YACHTA 25-30-footer at a marina£4,000-£80,000 capital and £3-5,000 a year

This Holman 26, from the famous postwar design house of Holman and Pye, is a 'proper yacht' that can really go places

A 25-30-footer at a marina. The cost goes up dramatically here: insurance rises (£400-ish a year), the marina will cost from £2,000-£5,000 or more… but it’s all-tides access with great showers! Yachts in this size bracket were the norm until quite recently – say, the 1980s. A 30-footer was considered a decent-sized boat, and they were sailed across oceans and around the world. Just think: Suhaili, the yacht that took Robin Knox-Johnston around the world solo and non-stop in 1968/9, was only 32ft. And the legendarily seaworthy yachts like the Laurent Giles-designed Vertue and the Nordic Folkboat were just 25ft or so. Yachts in this range will typically sleep four or more, and provide all the comforts for extended cruising: galley, heads, often heating and hot water and usually the full range of navigation equipment: radar (or AIS), GPS plotter, masthead VHF and an echo sounder and log.

View the many .

Buying a Wooden Boat – What the Brokers say

Words of advice from a few of Britain’s leading classic boat brokers

“Buy a boat that’s already in good condition. Keeping on top of the maintenance of a boat that’s sound is not such a big problem.”

Gillian Nahum, Hambleden sales and charter

“My advice would be to start off with a GRP classic that has wooden spars. If you find you enjoy looking after the wood, varnishing it etc, then move onto wood. And keep it small. Small boats, like 20-footers, are so much fun you may never trade up.”

David Morris, Woodrolfe brokerage

“Go for something less than 25ft (7.6m). A 40-footer would be crackers. I advise buyers against it. There’s no point in a wooden classic unless you enjoy looking after wood, but if you do, and you know you’re handy, I wouldn’t say no to starting with a restoration. Just make sure you’re somewhere there are plenty of other people doing similar jobs. Read Classic Boat! And read some of the many good books out there.”

Adrian Espin, Eastern yachts

“A wooden boat gives you the satisfaction of leaning new crafts, becoming attached to your boat through working on it and being one of a long list of proud custodians. You’d be doing your bit to preserve our maritime history. We are so pleased when we find someone to take on that role!”

Catherine Dines, MJ Lewis & son

“Reconnaissance is not a waste of time – and get a surveyor. All boats are a compromise, so make a realistic assessment of what you will really use the boat for – not what you dream of using it for. A good broker will help find the boat that will suit those needs. A wooden boat is something of a battle between head and heart, and people who buy them are usually great! Beware of bigger boats. You don’t really need a boat bigger than 25-32ft. That’s a great size for a couple or a family. To learn to sail in, you can’t beat the purity of a dinghy. And, if it isn’t pretty – don’t buy it!”

Barney Sandeman, Sandeman yacht company

6. Where to keep the 25ft + Classic Yacht

There are a number of options for where to keep your wooden boat.

The most convenient is a berth at a marina. Your boat floats alongside its own pontoon in a secure, staffed complex that usually includes shore power and water for your boat, a shower block, a bar that serves hot food and, more often than not, a chandlery where you can rid yourself of unwanted cash. It’s also the most expensive option: a 30ft (9m) yacht will cost £2,000-5,000 depending on location.

A much cheaper option is a drying (or ‘mud’ berth), where the boat is afloat or sitting on the bottom depending on the state of the tide. These will typically cost between £500 and £1,000 for our 30ft yacht but will not offer all-tides access to the sea or estuary. A third option, that can be cheaper still (as little as £200 on the East Coast), is a swinging mooring, where the boat swings to the tides. The mooring is a stout buoy anchored or weighted to the river or sea bed, to which you tie up. You’ll need a dinghy for access, though club moorings might provide a water taxi. The final (free) option is to keep your boat on a trailer at home, which opens up your cruising grounds to anywhere you can drive.

6. How to maintain your Classic Boat

There are three main options for how to maintain a classic wooden boat.

1. Have your boat taken out of the water every winter, and seen to by a boatyard or shipwright before the spring rolls around heralding the next season.

2. The DIY approach, great if you have time on your hands and the skills. This is quite do-able for the DIY enthusiast with patience, and some find it the most enjoyable aspect of boat ownership. You will find plenty of advice from fellow classic owners – sometimes too much! This keeps the budget low.

3. The third, most common, option is to keep on top of the basic stuff that all yachts need (painting, varnishing, replacing broken bits – the simple stuff), and entrust more skilled jobs to a yard or freelance boatbuilder; the latter keep costs down at around half the yard’s £45/hr rate.

During his time at Classic Boat, Steffan has sailed around London, been part of a failed Fastnet campaign, and put two yachts aground. The Daily Mail called his first book, Circle Line, “whimsically philosophical”, meaning his head is in the clouds. The rest of him lives in the South Downs.

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About Us

Classic Boat is the magazine for the world’s most beautiful boats. Packed with stunning images, we have the inside stories of the great classic yachts and motorboats afloat today, as well as fascinating tales from yesteryear and the latest from the wooden boat building scene around the world.